Union
by Midzst
Summary: A ritual done years before by Harper and Trance comes back and puts their friendship to the test.
1. Prologue: The Beginning

1**Title:** Union

**Rating:** PG-13

**Pairing**: Trance and Harper

**Summary**: A ritual done years before by Harper and Trance comes back and puts their friendship to the test.

**Spoilers**: There will be a lot, since I'm going to be doing H/T flashback.

**Author's Note**: This will be my first long fan fiction of Andromeda, and I'm very excited. I was inspired by the Firefly episode 'Our Mrs. Reynolds', however I decided to put a Harper and Trance spin on it.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own or am affiliated with the Tribune or Andromeda. If I was, I would be living in Canada.

**Prologue**

It had been nearly five years since Seamus Zelanzy Harper had been to the backwater world Trinalee. It unsurprisingly hadn't changed much. The dusty road that lead to the main street with the same boring shops.

He was given the day to look for spare parts, which seemed nearly impossible in the world that look like in hadn't been updated since the pre-commonwealth days. Finally he found one of the shops that he discovered years ago.

"Long time Mr. Harper," said a gruff human man.

"Yes, a very long time..." he trailed off while searching in his mind for the shop owner's name. "A long time Mr. Tam," he guessed.

"Zam," the man corrected good heartily.

"Sorry, I'm honestly surprised that you remember me. Usually its just the women who do and then they remember the restraining orders they filed against me." Harper joked.

Zam boomed with laughter, "You were always such a funny man. Your wife must always be laughing."

"Yeah... my what?" Harper's voiced raised with the question.

"Your wife, what the name, Trance I believe, very purple, blonde. Aren't you here to celebrate your five year anniversary? I mean this is the planet you were married on," the shop owner elaborated.

"My what?" Harper repeated.


	2. Chapter 1: To Tell the Truth

1**Title**: Union, Chapter 1

**Author**: MidnightzStorm

**Author's Note**: Sorry for the big gap of updating, but life got in the way. However since I have been so busy I have become more inspired which is always a good thing. Please keep reviewing it keeps me writing. By the way has anyone else been having Andromeda withdraws? I know the new season wouldn't be on by now if there was one, but there is nothing to look forward to. So all you fan fiction writers keep writing, we have to keep the show alive somehow.

**Thanks to: **PippinBaggin, Harper's Pixie, and squid109 for the lovely reviews.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Andromeda, if I did Harper and Trance would have realized that they were in love, gotten married, and had a dozen elf-eared genius babies.

Chapter 1

"_So you two have been married for about five years?"_

"_Well we didn't know that we were married. Right Harper?"_

"_Yes darling… oww..."_

"_As you both know, divorce isn't common here. There are of course rules and questioning that you have to go through. Has the relationship been consummated?"_

"_No."_

"_I wish. Oww… Well at least we have grounds for divorce, she's abusing her husband!"_

"_Listen, Minster, we accidentally got married and we just want to get it annulled."_

"_Yeah, we were young and stupid, and one of us was purple."_

"_But the two of you did participate in the Dance of Union."_

------------------------------------

**Five years ago:**

"Come on! Beka said we had only a few hours of free time and I want to see the planet," the hyperactive and purple Trance Gemini begged her best friend Seamus Harper as they walked the barren streets of Trinalee.

The crew of the Maru had just finished a delivery, their boss Beka had decided to go to the local space port bar to see if she could get any new jobs. Apparently she preferred do business without her extremely handsome engineer and very purple environment specialist, so she let them go out and "see the world" and as usual Trance was excited about the venture.

"Okay, I'll give you the grand tour. This is the main street, behind us is the back street and did I mention that here is the main street? Trance the whole planet is a huge dust ball!" Harper told her with some exasperation. Its not that he didn't enjoy Trance's company, she was the best friend he ever had, but there were thousands of other things he could be doing with his free time, then going up and down the streets of a sand planet. He could be tweaking his latest project, drinking a sparky cola, or even finish the book about self improvement that Rev got him. However when Trance's big brown eyes widen and her lips pouted all those thousands of things disappeared from his mind.

So they walked around the dust ball. Trance skipped around and made a few zigzags and turns which made Harper wonder if she had a certain destination in mind.

"Where are you trying to go?" he asked her, but he didn't get an answer, because she stopped in front of some kind of party.

The towns' folk seemed to have gathered for some sort of celebration. There was a huge bon fire in the middle of the group. A band played a melody, while couples danced around the fire, and the rest of the people clapped their hands to the beat. It was a simple party and it reminded Harper of the few, but simple and happy moments he had with his family on Earth.

Trance didn't let him get too nostalgic; she grabbed his hand and said, "Ooh, let's dance."

------------------------------------

"_So you two just decided to jump in to our ancient ritual."_

"_We didn't know that it was a ritual. We just thought it was a town gathering with dancing."_

"_What? Yeah I agree with the misses. By the way it was her idea to dance, you know when a beautiful woman asks you to dance you dance."_

"_You think I'm beautiful?"_

------------------------------------

Seamus Zealnzy Harper was not happy, he was not happy at all. There was an unusual amount of giggles ensuing throughout command. He usually would have loved to have made his three favorite girls laugh about something funny he said, but not this time.

Beka, Rommie, and Trance were sitting on the floor leaning against each other to not completely fall from the hysteria that had invaded them when Harper had told them about the "union".

"Okay can we tune down the laugh track? It isn't that funny," Harper said.

"Yes… it… is…" said Beka through laughter, her blond tresses falling in her eyes.

"I actually agree with Harper. Marriage is not laughing matter, this is a serious situation," Rhade put in from his station. He had his regular neutral face on, but then also seemed slightly amused by all the laughter.

Trance then got up from her giggle group. Harper did admit to himself that it was nice to see her smile again. "Come on Harper, you have to acknowledge its funny. We have been married for five years," she said to him.

"Yeah I guess it is a bit funny," he confessed to his wife, "Rommie?"

The avatar was continuing to laugh aside Beka.

"Geez Rommie, I tried to fit a sense of humor in your programming, but I didn't I program you to laugh at me."

"Sorry Harper," she replied, standing up. She was thankful for times like these when she felt almost human; it made her feel like she could connect with her crew better.

"Do you have any information on the Trinalee grounds for divorce?" he asked her.

"Its very strict, but it is possible. You need to have strong and ligament reason," she reported.

"Well he's cheated on me." Trance piped in.

"You mean he's tried to," injected Beka. And with that statement the three girls and Rhade burst into laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha, its not funny," Harper said as he left the laughter behind.


	3. Chapter 3: Hugs and Kisses

1**Title**: Union, Chapter 2: Hugs and Kisses

**Author**: MidnightzStorm

**Author's Note**: I don't really think I have anything to say. First couple chapters are going to flashbacks, so that we can see where Harper and Trance stand in their "marriage". But after that well I can't tell you, but it will be good.

**Thanks to:** Harper's Pixie, L. C. Brotherton, LittleRedhead, Thristle, bunny-bpt and squid109 for the lovely reviews.

**Disclaimer**: I again do not own Andromeda.

"_So there has not been any physical intimacy between the two of you?_

"_What does that have to do with anything? We want a divorce, because it was an accident. AN ACCIDENT. It shouldn't be this hard, let's just pull up the paperwork and sign on the freaking dotted line!"_

"_Harper, be patience."_

"_As I told you before there are a number of questions that we have to through, so that I can bring an informative case in front of the elders for approval. So again has there been any physical intimacy between the two of you?"_

"_Well… it matters your definition of 'physical intimacy'."_

"_Just a little…"_

---------

**Two Years Ago:**

Trance Gemini jumped as she heard the third 'bang' coming form the machine shop. Her best friend Harper seemed determined to raise hell in his workshop.

"What in the universe is wrong?" she asked raising her voice to compete with all the commotion.

"Everything is wrong Trance! The damn Nietzscheans are wrong! Damn Dylan and his damn politic problems! Damn Magog! Everything is wrong!" he yelled kicking a pile of rubble.

"Not everything…" she countered.

"No, don't you dare start. Not everything is rainbows, flowers, and puppy dogs!" he shouted again. However before she could ask what puppy dogs were Harper groaned in pain and clutched his stomach. She ran towards him, helping him down to the ground. He pulled his medicine from his neck and breathed in and out.

"Harper you need to stay calm," she told him in a hushed voice.

"Its almost over," he said quietly.

"The pain?" she questioned.

"No, my life," he said as tears began to water his eyes.

"Harper, no, Rev and I are still looking…"

"Its okay Trance, I had a long life for Earth standards. I mean compared to my parents, my siblings, my cousins…" he stopped there; his guilt overcame him as he thought of Brendan.

"Harper, don't talk that way," she said. She had begun to cry as well. She moved herself so that they were face to face.

"Sorry about this entire thing Trance," he admitted.

"Shh… it's alright," she whispered, her hands running through his hair. He the leaned in and let their lips meet, softly they collided, and for a little while both of them forgot why they had been crying.

---------

"_Harper, why is he looking at us like that?"_

"_I have no idea Trance. Maybe we shouldn't have told him about that."_

"_But we have to tell the truth!"_

"_Are there any other times?"_

"_Well… best friends you know hug and occasionally kiss."_

"_It's completely natural."_

"_Any other times?"_

---------

A much older and wiser Trance Gemini walked into the machine shop months later. She breathed in the air that still smelled of oil and Sparky Cola. And as well this time there was a lot of noise coming from the room, but it wasn't coming from an angry engineer, it was coming from Andromeda's sound system, which was playing something that Harper considered music.

She found her old friend sitting on a stool studying some spare part. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder; he jumped from his seat and with a shocked expression looked at her.

"Oh, hi Trance," he said. He was clearly still not use to her golden skin and long auburn dreadlocks.

"Is everything alright? After all the excitement you must be exhausted, you should be sleeping," she said sternly with a gleam of concern in her eyes.

"Everything is fine. I'm just not tired, so I decided to make myself useful," he told her and picked up the part again.

"What is the matter? You know you can tell me anything," she implored.

"Can I really?" he asked. After taking a deep breath he continued: "Okay you want to know what's really bugging me? I miss her."

"Her who?" she questioned with a frown.

He made a face, and in his eyes she could tell that he was trying to find the right words to answer the question. "I miss you," he said, however quickly went on before she could interrupted, "I know that you are right here, but I miss…" His voice trailed off and he gave her an apologetic look.

"You miss the younger me," she finished for him. She came closer to him and sat down at the stool next to him. "Close your eyes," she told him.

He raised his eyebrows and said "I should have known you liked that way." However she gave him her newly infamous 'don't-mess-with-me' look and he did as he was asked.

"Now listen to my voice," she said, she then started to hum a song she loved when she was younger. She brought his hands from his side and moved them to her head letting him search her face. She stopped humming and asked "Am I the girl you been missing?"

He opened his eyes and gave her another apologetic look.

"Its alright Seamus," she said before he could verbally apologize. "You are just going to have to be patient. I promise you I'm still your best friend."

She went to leave, but his voice stopped her. "Trance, before… when the larva were becoming active, in the med deck, she, I mean the younger you kissed me. What I'm trying to ask is did she know that was the last time she would see me?"

"We both had feeling that something was starting, but no she didn't know. You just looked like you needed a kiss," she answered with a slight grin.

"Well, if every--" he started, but stopped. Trance had walked over and kissed him on the cheek, the same spot where her younger self did. She smiled and walked away and once again he brought his hand from his cheek to his lips.

---------

"_Are you both sure you want a divorce?"_


	4. Chapter 4: Revelations

1**Title**: Union, Chapter 3: Revelations

**Author**: MidnightzStorm

**Author's Note**: I know it's been awhile, apparently in college you have to work. However last week I set aside some writing time and came up with the following. Its shorter than the other chapters, but it does move the story along. I believe that I will finish this story out in at most five more chapters. I don't want to drag it out, which is my current pet peeve of fan fiction writers.

**Thanks to:** My Mother who beta this without even reading it. I keep yelling out grammar question across the hallway and she didn't even know what I was writing about.

**Disclaimer**: Who hear thinks that I own Andromeda? Good answer, you guys are smart. (And for all you slow people the answer is 'no'.)

"_Are you both sure you want a divorce?"_

"_Yes. Yes to divorce."_

"_What? Oh yeah, divorce is good."_

"_Alright, I will have to bring up your case with the council. I will of course send a message within the next few days."_

Trance Gemini or as Trinalee decreed Trance Gemini Harper was worried. She honestly had forgotten what timeline she was in. She had forgotten the dance. In her past she had danced on purpose, she knew it would come in handy to be legally bound to him. After he died he left crucial information for the Andromeda on Senti that only a family member could open. She had walked into their hall of records and announced that she was the late Seamus Harper's widow and after the Perseids contacted Trinalee they gave her the information. She told the crew that she just cried and that the Perseids decided to let her have the flexi. They didn't push her since she was especially delicate after his death.

It was useful back then to be Seamus Harper's widow, but now in this time she was his wife. Was there a reason for their marriage in this realm? Everything she had ever done had been for a specific reason. But this event seemed to escape her, it was a mistake. It didn't have a purpose.

She frowned as she thought of the illogical situation she was in. There was no purpose to the union and it was made of complete insanity. However that was something new for Trance Gemini. And something new always sparked an interest in Mrs. Harper.

He had tried to keep to himself he last few days, which was not hard since he knew the ship inside and out. He did enjoy attention as much as the next completely handsome genius engineer, but not of the teasing variety. So he decided to keep away from all forms of Beka, Rhade, and Rommie.

There was nothing that was funny about the situation in his mind. Growing up on Earth, when most of your time was spent searching for your next meal and trying to avoid the latest suppressers; religion didn't really get much concentration. However his mother always said that marriage was sacred; it wasn't something that you just did for kicks. He agreed as a good son did, it was a permanent union, that shouldn't be entered into lightly.

"But I didn't know," he muttered to the empty room.

"Talking to yourself is one of the first signs of insanity," said the hologram of Rommie, which had just popped up.

"I think we all know that I passed at least twelve signs of insanity by now. Did you just come to question my mental health or is there something that you need me to do?" Harper questioned in a slightly snappish manner.

The avatar gave an extremely human frown and said: "There is no need for that tone."

"Sorry my beautiful warship, I just have been a bit ticked. You know I worship the space you fly on," he flirted.

"You shouldn't let your wife hear you flirt like that. She may be the jealous type," the avatar teased.

Harper gave her his best 'death glare' and said "Yeah, yeah… she probably can kill me and then go back in time and kill me again. Now what do you got for me?"

"We just received a message for the Minster Council from Trinalee."

"Thank goodness, patch it through."

The message from the Minster continued to play through his head. The only thing on his mind was 'find Trance'. The corridors seemed longer than ever, as his feet walked in a rapid pace. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when he found her, but he knew he needed to talk to her.

He located her in the Medical Bay looking over a flexi. She looked up as she stormed into the room; he had an unwavering look in his eyes. "Harper what is it?" she asked with concern.

Without actually thinking about it, he took a deep breath as if for courage and then wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. Their mouths connected in a kiss, while Trance was still as if in shock. However after a few seconds she responded by moving her lips against his while her hands found their way to his hair. They stayed locked this way for several minutes.

So what's up with the recent make out session and what was in the message? All will be revealed in the next chapter, which will up much quicker than this one.

Also if you guys have any ideas for the stories and insight into the characters would be greatly appreciated. Writer's block has ailed me too long lately.

**Benesound: **how was that for soul searching? I think it was a push in the right direction.

**Trancegemmy:** thanks for the review, glad that you are enjoying the story.

**squid109**: keep enjoying the story. Your compliments mean a lot to me, since you are pretty much famous in the Andromeda fandom zone in my eyes.

**LittleRedHead**: Hope this chapter was just as sweet.

**Thristle**: Something beautiful and not so beautiful is going to happen. Hope that you get inspired as well, I can't wait to find out what happens in 'As the Ruins Fall'.


End file.
